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■ ■■ :. ■ ■ . ■ ■
■ x-ZZV/.'C^X
■■ -^ ----- -;;■- -
- . - -;-. - -::;
. :-
INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Tidbits 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
American Indians take control
of Pine Ridge Tribal Office
pgj
Shakopee tribal members
object to enrollment ordinance
pgt
Video by 11th grader
Randi Jones Burris
selected for "Women
with Vision" film festival
pg3
Wisconsin's potential casino
windfall points to Minnesota's
incompetent tribal compacts
pg4
Commentary
Gov. Ventura not
seeing state
interest in Indian
affairs
pg4
Gov. Ventura
meets with
Minnesota Indian
Affairs Council
ejpgl
Crooks
re-elected
chairman of
Shakopee
Dakota Tribe
PRIOR LAKE, Minn. After being
unopposed for reelection, Stanley
Crooks mid his cousin Glynn Crooks
win serve another four
years as chairman and
vice chairman of the
Shakopee
Mdewakanton
Dakota, the owners of
Mystic Lake Casino
in Prior Lake.
The tribe didn't
release figures on
how many people
voted in Tuesday's
election. Dissident
tribal members had
denounced the
election as a sham
and refused to run.
The tribe has 250 to
400 members,
depending on which faction is
counting.
His cousin and longtime political
opponent, fonner Chairman Leonard
Prescott, says he has nothing to gain
and plenty to lose in running for
election. Prescott said his support has
NO CHALLENGER to pg. 5
Shakopee tribal members
object to enrollment ordinance
Two members of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota Community
have filed a motion in federal court
alleging a breach of trust by the
federal government for "deliberate
refusal" to stop misappropriation of
"hundreds of millions of dollars" of
tribal casino revenues.
Star Tribune photo by Joey McLeister
Leonard Prescott
Star Tribune photo by Gary Berman
Stanley Crooks, tribal
chairman of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota.
The motion - filed by tribal elders
Winifred Feezor and Cecilia St.
Pierre - seeks $150 million from the
federal government for an "ongoing
breach" of its responsibility to tribal
members. Feezor and St. Pierre
claim that $150 million is being
distributed annually in direct per
capita payments to individuals who
do not meet the tribe's own membership criteria.
The motion also seeks enforcement of an earlier federal ruling that
ordered the government to determine the validity of the ordinance.
In Feb. 1999, the federal government invalidated the adoption
ordinances used by the current
tribal leadership to "adopt" hundreds of unqualified individuals
into the tribe. The Shakopee tribal
court subsequently declared in May
1999 that the federal government's
decision invalidating the tribe's
adoption ordinance was an unconstitutional and invalid intrusion into
"internal" tribal matters.
The adoption ordinance has added
more than 200 members to the tribe
who now share in casino proceeds
and participate in the tribal government. Each member of the tribe
receives $75,000 a month in casino
profits.
Feezor and St. Pierre claim that no
more than 74 people are actually
qualified and eligible voting
members in the tribe, and they have
long opposed the ordinance chang-
ENROLLMENTtopg.5
Pequots have
paid state more
than $1 billion in
slot revenue
MASHANTUCKET, Conn.
(AP) - Foxwoods Resort Casino's
slot machines have earned $4 billion
since the Mashantucket Pequot tribe
entered into a special agreement
with the state seven years ago.
More than $1 billion of that
revenue has gone back to the state.
The tribe announced Friday that
they now have paid $1,007,482,922
to the state under an agreement
whereby the tribe pays Connecticut
25 percent of its slot revenue in
return for semi-exclusive rights to
operate the machines at their casino.
The Mohegans, operators of the
Mohegan Sun casino at Montville,
also offer slot machine gambling
and pay the state 25 percent of their
revenue.
Foxwoods had slot earnings of
$53 million in December, pushing
the casino's contributions to the
state over the $ 1 billion mark.
Foxwoods President and CEO
Bud Celey, noting the billion-dollar
payoff to the state, said the amount
is indicative of how popular
Connecticut's casinos are and how
profitable the special agreement has
been to both the Pequots and the
people of Connecticut.
Decision expected next week in
LaRose tribal court challenge
By Jeff Armstrong
The Leech Lake Tribal Court must
make the fateful choice whether it is
to serve as a people's judicial tribunal
or function as a private Reservation
Business Committee court, according
to an Anishinabe man facing charges
of fishing with an oversized net on a
reservation lake.
Basing his motion for dismissal on
constitutional and international law,
defendant Franklin, (Doc) LaRose
maintained in his Jan. 18 oral
arguments that Leech Lake's
conservation guidelines illegal I \
deprive tribal members of hard-won
treaty rights without their consent.
"The people never delegated any
authority, even governmental
authority, to the business committee,"
LaRose said. "I don't know when our
fish and rice and deer became an
asset of the business committee."
LaRose, a subsistence fisherman,
argued that the RBC had no constitutional authority to enter into a 1973
agreement with the state which
strictly limited the exercise of tribal
treaty rights recendy recognized in
federal court. He said the RBC's
attempts to enforce the state agreement stripped impoverished tribal
members of the inherent right to live
off their own land.
"They're not regulating a re
source," LaRose argued. "They're
regulating a people. They entered
into an agreement with the state of
Minnesota restricting our right to
hunt, fish and gather. There's no
regulation of non-members."
While conceding that the court's
constitutional authorization is far
from explicit, tribal prosecutor
Michael Garbow said the RBC's
jurisdiction to establish conservation
regulations is supported by Article
VI (C) of the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe Constitution, which grants
RBC authority to "manage, lease,
permit or other* ise deal with tribal
lands."
However, Garbow challenged the
jurisdiction of the tribal court to
consider constitutional issues.
"I agree with a lot of what Mr.
LaRose has to say." said Garbow.
"But this is not the forum. It's our job
to enforce the law as it exists right
now."
LaRose said constitutional
ambiguities could be readily clarified
by submitting the question to a
referendum vote of tribal members,
which he argued was the established
method of resolving such disputes
under federal and international law.
"We need our own judicial system
independent of the RBC, a judicial
LAROSE CHALLENGE to pg. 8
American Indians take control of Pine Ridge tribal office
By Chet Brokaw
Associated Press Writer
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) - About
100 Oglala Sioux who accuse the
tribe of financial mismanagement
have taken over tribal headquarters
and demanded that the governing
council step down.
' The protesters said Monday they
will remain there until they are
satisfied authorities will investigate
their allegations.
On Monday afternoon, however,
members ofthe tribal council voted
to have the protesters thrown out of
the building. They voted to have
tribal law officers enforce tribal laws
that ban the spread of false propaganda and actions that interfere with
the conduct of council business.
Council members said they expect
the tribe's public safety director to
evict the protesters Monday night or
Tuesday.
The group, which is allied with
tribal President Harold Dean Salway,
took control of the tribal building at
the Pine Ridge Reservation on
Sunday. About 100 people stayed
there Sunday night and Monday.
Members of the unarmed group are
calling for an audit and have demanded the immediate resignation of
tribal Treasurer Wesley "Chuck"
Jacobs and all 17 members ofthe
tribal council. They also have asked
the FBI to seize tribal records dealing
with law enforcement, housing and
other programs.
"The bottom line is, we want
accountability and responsibility by
our elected officials." said group
spokesman Dale Looks Twice.
The takeover resulted from months
of disagreement over financial issues.
Agreement
allows analysis
of firefighter
hiring, testing
Some say
personality test
biased against
Native American
applicants
Excerpted from Dan Wascoe Jr.
Star Tribune
Lawyers for minority job-seekers
and the Minneapolis Fire Department
avoided a federal court hearing Jan.
14 by agreeing to study additional
results of personality tests used to
screen firefighter applicants.
Before the agreement, the Legal
Aid Society of Minneapolis contended that the personality tests
screened out American Indian
applicants in disproportionate
numbers. The hearing before U.S.
District Judge Paul Magnuson would
have considered a request to halt
further hiring based on previous test
results.
Instead, the two sides agreed to
allow limited new hiring by the
department based partly on past
results and to study a new round of
tests this year for potential unfairness.
The U.S. District Court has
exercised jurisdiction over the
department's hiring since 1972, and
the Legal Aid Society has monitored
recent employment test results,
especially the personality test known
as the Employment Inventory/
Consumer Service Inventory.
The personality test and a reading
test are used as screening tools to
determine who may advance to a
physical test and an interview....
The same test may be used to help
screen a new round of applicants this
year, but the results, combined with
those from 1998, will be analyzed for
fairness.
Legal Aid's Roderick Macpherson,
representing minority applicants, said
the deal benefits both sides: The city
gets to hire more firefighters without
a court challenge and Legal Aid will
have a larger pool of test results to
analyze, which could make a future
challenge more valid....
Voice
o
i H E
People
web page: www.press-on.net
fl
'bee*
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2000
Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 14
January 21,2000
Gov. Jesse Ventura (right) addresses the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
Also pictured MIAC Director Joe Day (left).
Gov. Ventura meets with Minnesota
Indian Affairs Council in St. Paul
Salway suspended Jacobs in October
for allegedly mismanaging tribal
funds, but a tribal judge later
reinstated the treasurer.
Eileen Janis, a spokeswoman for
Salway, said the president mid others
have become frustrated with Jacobs
and the council majority that always
supports the treasurer. "We want a
complete audit of everything," she
said.
Jacobs was not home Monday. His
wife said he was at a tribal meeting.
Mark Vukelich, senior supervisory
agent with the FBI in Rapid City, said
Monday afternoon that the protesters
have not provided specific allegations.
Most ofthe tribe's 38,000 members
live on the reservation, which
consistently ranks as one of the
poorest areas of the nation.
. B\ Gary Blair
Minnesota Governor Jesse
Ventura addressed members of the
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
(MIAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 18, during
the group's quarterly meeting held at
the Embassy Suites Hotel in St.
Paul.
This is Gov. Ventura's second
meeting with the MIAC in eight
months. By comparison, Gov. Arne
Carlson met with the MIAC only a
couple of times during his eight
years in office.
Approximately 80 people attended
the meeting, including about 60
observers composed mostly of tribal
employees, state and federal
officials, and tribal lobbyists.
In his few minutes of opening
remarks, Gov. Ventura said, among
other things, that the state government, hundreds of local governments, and 11 tribal governments in
Minnesota need to work together.
Most significantly, the Governor
(left) Gov.
Ventura
talks with
audience
members.
(right)
Minnesota
Indian
Affairs
Council
meeting in
St. Paul,
Jan. 18.
referred to tribes as •■sovereign."
thereby winning the affection of
tribal officials. The meeting was
overtly friendly and non-confrontational.
The MIAC listened as the Governor explained his budget plans for the
state. The Governor focused on his
2000-01 $420 million bonding
budget, to be discussed at the
Legislature this year. All state-funded
construction projects in the
Governor's proposal have to meet the
standard of "state significance." He
said there is currently $3 billion in
state bonding debt, and he wants to
keep new debt to a minimum.
Two projects the Governor
mentioned that are included in his
bonding proposal are new schools at
Red Lake and Cass Lake. White
Earth Chainnan John Buckanaga was
somewhat critical that the Governor
did not include a new school for Pine
Point in his proposal. Buckanaga also
suggested that the Governor include
reservation Indians in any future state
tax rebates. Since reservation
Indians do not pay state income tax,
they were not included in the 1999
tax rebate.
A question and answer session
between the Governor and the
MIAC followed Ventura's opening
remarks.
He advised the group that he
would be looking at each program
that the state funds for accountability. "We're looking to see if we're
getting — to use an old cliche — the
most bang for our buck," Ventura
said. He did not, however, elaborate
on how accountability would be
determined.
There have been many allegations
of tribal mismanagement of state
funds. Last summer the State
Auditor's office issued a report that
was critical of the Indian Affairs
Council's business loan program,
and their lack of recovery efforts for
the loans they issue.
MIAC to pg. 5
Most presidential candidates ignore Indian tribes
By Chaka Ferguson
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gov.
George W. Bush says during an Iowa
campaign stop that he's pumping
thousands of dollars into an ad campaign to court Hispanics, describing it as
"a fresh start for America."
From the church pulpit where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his
"Mountaintop" speech on die eve ofhis
assassination, Vice President Al Gore
invokes the name of the slain civil rights
leader to rally blacks in Memphis, Tenn.
As the presidential campaign heats up,
the leading contenders are reaching out
to minority groups: women, blacks,
Hispanics and Asian-Americans. But
there is one group that hasn't been
wooed, stroked or courted.
The nation's oldest inhabitants —
Indians.
"We are not even getting a blip on the
radar screen of major candidates," said
JoAnn Chase, executive director ofthe
National Congress of American Indians,
a nonpartisan Washington-based
George Bush
lobbying group that represents more
than 250 tribes.
While some tribes have strengthened
their political clout and gained influence
through the financial successes of tribal
casinos, most Indians still remain largely
outside ofthe political sphere.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was the
only presidential candidate to speak at
the NCAf's national convention in
October. And he is the only major
candidate who has taken his campaign
to the Navajos, the country's largest tribe
with 225,000 members and a reservation
that spans three states.
Tribes have been wary of Bush, the
Texas governor, especially after he was
quoted in The (Syracuse) Post-Standard
in October as saying "state law reigns
supreme when it comes to the Indians,
whether it be gambling or any other
issue."
The governor refused to elaborate on
his comment.
McCain, Gore and Bill Bradley,
Gore's rival for the Democratic
presidential nomination, did not respond
to several requests for comment. Most
Indian leaders cite demographics,
economics and historical disenchantment with the political process as major
reasons why politicians make so few
overtures to their people.
Indians make up 1 percent of the
PRESIDENTIAL to pg. 8

Content and images in this collection may be reproduced and used freely without written permission only for educational purposes. Any other use requires the express written consent of Bemidji State University and the Associated Press. All uses require an

■ ■■ :. ■ ■ . ■ ■
■ x-ZZV/.'C^X
■■ -^ ----- -;;■- -
- . - -;-. - -::;
. :-
INDEX
News Around Indian Country 2
News Tidbits 3
Commentary/Editorials/Voices 4
Smoke Signals of Upcoming Events 5
Classifieds 6-7
American Indians take control
of Pine Ridge Tribal Office
pgj
Shakopee tribal members
object to enrollment ordinance
pgt
Video by 11th grader
Randi Jones Burris
selected for "Women
with Vision" film festival
pg3
Wisconsin's potential casino
windfall points to Minnesota's
incompetent tribal compacts
pg4
Commentary
Gov. Ventura not
seeing state
interest in Indian
affairs
pg4
Gov. Ventura
meets with
Minnesota Indian
Affairs Council
ejpgl
Crooks
re-elected
chairman of
Shakopee
Dakota Tribe
PRIOR LAKE, Minn. After being
unopposed for reelection, Stanley
Crooks mid his cousin Glynn Crooks
win serve another four
years as chairman and
vice chairman of the
Shakopee
Mdewakanton
Dakota, the owners of
Mystic Lake Casino
in Prior Lake.
The tribe didn't
release figures on
how many people
voted in Tuesday's
election. Dissident
tribal members had
denounced the
election as a sham
and refused to run.
The tribe has 250 to
400 members,
depending on which faction is
counting.
His cousin and longtime political
opponent, fonner Chairman Leonard
Prescott, says he has nothing to gain
and plenty to lose in running for
election. Prescott said his support has
NO CHALLENGER to pg. 5
Shakopee tribal members
object to enrollment ordinance
Two members of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota Community
have filed a motion in federal court
alleging a breach of trust by the
federal government for "deliberate
refusal" to stop misappropriation of
"hundreds of millions of dollars" of
tribal casino revenues.
Star Tribune photo by Joey McLeister
Leonard Prescott
Star Tribune photo by Gary Berman
Stanley Crooks, tribal
chairman of the Shakopee
Mdewakanton Dakota.
The motion - filed by tribal elders
Winifred Feezor and Cecilia St.
Pierre - seeks $150 million from the
federal government for an "ongoing
breach" of its responsibility to tribal
members. Feezor and St. Pierre
claim that $150 million is being
distributed annually in direct per
capita payments to individuals who
do not meet the tribe's own membership criteria.
The motion also seeks enforcement of an earlier federal ruling that
ordered the government to determine the validity of the ordinance.
In Feb. 1999, the federal government invalidated the adoption
ordinances used by the current
tribal leadership to "adopt" hundreds of unqualified individuals
into the tribe. The Shakopee tribal
court subsequently declared in May
1999 that the federal government's
decision invalidating the tribe's
adoption ordinance was an unconstitutional and invalid intrusion into
"internal" tribal matters.
The adoption ordinance has added
more than 200 members to the tribe
who now share in casino proceeds
and participate in the tribal government. Each member of the tribe
receives $75,000 a month in casino
profits.
Feezor and St. Pierre claim that no
more than 74 people are actually
qualified and eligible voting
members in the tribe, and they have
long opposed the ordinance chang-
ENROLLMENTtopg.5
Pequots have
paid state more
than $1 billion in
slot revenue
MASHANTUCKET, Conn.
(AP) - Foxwoods Resort Casino's
slot machines have earned $4 billion
since the Mashantucket Pequot tribe
entered into a special agreement
with the state seven years ago.
More than $1 billion of that
revenue has gone back to the state.
The tribe announced Friday that
they now have paid $1,007,482,922
to the state under an agreement
whereby the tribe pays Connecticut
25 percent of its slot revenue in
return for semi-exclusive rights to
operate the machines at their casino.
The Mohegans, operators of the
Mohegan Sun casino at Montville,
also offer slot machine gambling
and pay the state 25 percent of their
revenue.
Foxwoods had slot earnings of
$53 million in December, pushing
the casino's contributions to the
state over the $ 1 billion mark.
Foxwoods President and CEO
Bud Celey, noting the billion-dollar
payoff to the state, said the amount
is indicative of how popular
Connecticut's casinos are and how
profitable the special agreement has
been to both the Pequots and the
people of Connecticut.
Decision expected next week in
LaRose tribal court challenge
By Jeff Armstrong
The Leech Lake Tribal Court must
make the fateful choice whether it is
to serve as a people's judicial tribunal
or function as a private Reservation
Business Committee court, according
to an Anishinabe man facing charges
of fishing with an oversized net on a
reservation lake.
Basing his motion for dismissal on
constitutional and international law,
defendant Franklin, (Doc) LaRose
maintained in his Jan. 18 oral
arguments that Leech Lake's
conservation guidelines illegal I \
deprive tribal members of hard-won
treaty rights without their consent.
"The people never delegated any
authority, even governmental
authority, to the business committee,"
LaRose said. "I don't know when our
fish and rice and deer became an
asset of the business committee."
LaRose, a subsistence fisherman,
argued that the RBC had no constitutional authority to enter into a 1973
agreement with the state which
strictly limited the exercise of tribal
treaty rights recendy recognized in
federal court. He said the RBC's
attempts to enforce the state agreement stripped impoverished tribal
members of the inherent right to live
off their own land.
"They're not regulating a re
source," LaRose argued. "They're
regulating a people. They entered
into an agreement with the state of
Minnesota restricting our right to
hunt, fish and gather. There's no
regulation of non-members."
While conceding that the court's
constitutional authorization is far
from explicit, tribal prosecutor
Michael Garbow said the RBC's
jurisdiction to establish conservation
regulations is supported by Article
VI (C) of the Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe Constitution, which grants
RBC authority to "manage, lease,
permit or other* ise deal with tribal
lands."
However, Garbow challenged the
jurisdiction of the tribal court to
consider constitutional issues.
"I agree with a lot of what Mr.
LaRose has to say." said Garbow.
"But this is not the forum. It's our job
to enforce the law as it exists right
now."
LaRose said constitutional
ambiguities could be readily clarified
by submitting the question to a
referendum vote of tribal members,
which he argued was the established
method of resolving such disputes
under federal and international law.
"We need our own judicial system
independent of the RBC, a judicial
LAROSE CHALLENGE to pg. 8
American Indians take control of Pine Ridge tribal office
By Chet Brokaw
Associated Press Writer
PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) - About
100 Oglala Sioux who accuse the
tribe of financial mismanagement
have taken over tribal headquarters
and demanded that the governing
council step down.
' The protesters said Monday they
will remain there until they are
satisfied authorities will investigate
their allegations.
On Monday afternoon, however,
members ofthe tribal council voted
to have the protesters thrown out of
the building. They voted to have
tribal law officers enforce tribal laws
that ban the spread of false propaganda and actions that interfere with
the conduct of council business.
Council members said they expect
the tribe's public safety director to
evict the protesters Monday night or
Tuesday.
The group, which is allied with
tribal President Harold Dean Salway,
took control of the tribal building at
the Pine Ridge Reservation on
Sunday. About 100 people stayed
there Sunday night and Monday.
Members of the unarmed group are
calling for an audit and have demanded the immediate resignation of
tribal Treasurer Wesley "Chuck"
Jacobs and all 17 members ofthe
tribal council. They also have asked
the FBI to seize tribal records dealing
with law enforcement, housing and
other programs.
"The bottom line is, we want
accountability and responsibility by
our elected officials." said group
spokesman Dale Looks Twice.
The takeover resulted from months
of disagreement over financial issues.
Agreement
allows analysis
of firefighter
hiring, testing
Some say
personality test
biased against
Native American
applicants
Excerpted from Dan Wascoe Jr.
Star Tribune
Lawyers for minority job-seekers
and the Minneapolis Fire Department
avoided a federal court hearing Jan.
14 by agreeing to study additional
results of personality tests used to
screen firefighter applicants.
Before the agreement, the Legal
Aid Society of Minneapolis contended that the personality tests
screened out American Indian
applicants in disproportionate
numbers. The hearing before U.S.
District Judge Paul Magnuson would
have considered a request to halt
further hiring based on previous test
results.
Instead, the two sides agreed to
allow limited new hiring by the
department based partly on past
results and to study a new round of
tests this year for potential unfairness.
The U.S. District Court has
exercised jurisdiction over the
department's hiring since 1972, and
the Legal Aid Society has monitored
recent employment test results,
especially the personality test known
as the Employment Inventory/
Consumer Service Inventory.
The personality test and a reading
test are used as screening tools to
determine who may advance to a
physical test and an interview....
The same test may be used to help
screen a new round of applicants this
year, but the results, combined with
those from 1998, will be analyzed for
fairness.
Legal Aid's Roderick Macpherson,
representing minority applicants, said
the deal benefits both sides: The city
gets to hire more firefighters without
a court challenge and Legal Aid will
have a larger pool of test results to
analyze, which could make a future
challenge more valid....
Voice
o
i H E
People
web page: www.press-on.net
fl
'bee*
Ojibwe News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2000
Founded in 1988
Volume 12 Issue 14
January 21,2000
Gov. Jesse Ventura (right) addresses the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.
Also pictured MIAC Director Joe Day (left).
Gov. Ventura meets with Minnesota
Indian Affairs Council in St. Paul
Salway suspended Jacobs in October
for allegedly mismanaging tribal
funds, but a tribal judge later
reinstated the treasurer.
Eileen Janis, a spokeswoman for
Salway, said the president mid others
have become frustrated with Jacobs
and the council majority that always
supports the treasurer. "We want a
complete audit of everything," she
said.
Jacobs was not home Monday. His
wife said he was at a tribal meeting.
Mark Vukelich, senior supervisory
agent with the FBI in Rapid City, said
Monday afternoon that the protesters
have not provided specific allegations.
Most ofthe tribe's 38,000 members
live on the reservation, which
consistently ranks as one of the
poorest areas of the nation.
. B\ Gary Blair
Minnesota Governor Jesse
Ventura addressed members of the
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
(MIAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 18, during
the group's quarterly meeting held at
the Embassy Suites Hotel in St.
Paul.
This is Gov. Ventura's second
meeting with the MIAC in eight
months. By comparison, Gov. Arne
Carlson met with the MIAC only a
couple of times during his eight
years in office.
Approximately 80 people attended
the meeting, including about 60
observers composed mostly of tribal
employees, state and federal
officials, and tribal lobbyists.
In his few minutes of opening
remarks, Gov. Ventura said, among
other things, that the state government, hundreds of local governments, and 11 tribal governments in
Minnesota need to work together.
Most significantly, the Governor
(left) Gov.
Ventura
talks with
audience
members.
(right)
Minnesota
Indian
Affairs
Council
meeting in
St. Paul,
Jan. 18.
referred to tribes as •■sovereign."
thereby winning the affection of
tribal officials. The meeting was
overtly friendly and non-confrontational.
The MIAC listened as the Governor explained his budget plans for the
state. The Governor focused on his
2000-01 $420 million bonding
budget, to be discussed at the
Legislature this year. All state-funded
construction projects in the
Governor's proposal have to meet the
standard of "state significance." He
said there is currently $3 billion in
state bonding debt, and he wants to
keep new debt to a minimum.
Two projects the Governor
mentioned that are included in his
bonding proposal are new schools at
Red Lake and Cass Lake. White
Earth Chainnan John Buckanaga was
somewhat critical that the Governor
did not include a new school for Pine
Point in his proposal. Buckanaga also
suggested that the Governor include
reservation Indians in any future state
tax rebates. Since reservation
Indians do not pay state income tax,
they were not included in the 1999
tax rebate.
A question and answer session
between the Governor and the
MIAC followed Ventura's opening
remarks.
He advised the group that he
would be looking at each program
that the state funds for accountability. "We're looking to see if we're
getting — to use an old cliche — the
most bang for our buck," Ventura
said. He did not, however, elaborate
on how accountability would be
determined.
There have been many allegations
of tribal mismanagement of state
funds. Last summer the State
Auditor's office issued a report that
was critical of the Indian Affairs
Council's business loan program,
and their lack of recovery efforts for
the loans they issue.
MIAC to pg. 5
Most presidential candidates ignore Indian tribes
By Chaka Ferguson
Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gov.
George W. Bush says during an Iowa
campaign stop that he's pumping
thousands of dollars into an ad campaign to court Hispanics, describing it as
"a fresh start for America."
From the church pulpit where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his
"Mountaintop" speech on die eve ofhis
assassination, Vice President Al Gore
invokes the name of the slain civil rights
leader to rally blacks in Memphis, Tenn.
As the presidential campaign heats up,
the leading contenders are reaching out
to minority groups: women, blacks,
Hispanics and Asian-Americans. But
there is one group that hasn't been
wooed, stroked or courted.
The nation's oldest inhabitants —
Indians.
"We are not even getting a blip on the
radar screen of major candidates," said
JoAnn Chase, executive director ofthe
National Congress of American Indians,
a nonpartisan Washington-based
George Bush
lobbying group that represents more
than 250 tribes.
While some tribes have strengthened
their political clout and gained influence
through the financial successes of tribal
casinos, most Indians still remain largely
outside ofthe political sphere.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was the
only presidential candidate to speak at
the NCAf's national convention in
October. And he is the only major
candidate who has taken his campaign
to the Navajos, the country's largest tribe
with 225,000 members and a reservation
that spans three states.
Tribes have been wary of Bush, the
Texas governor, especially after he was
quoted in The (Syracuse) Post-Standard
in October as saying "state law reigns
supreme when it comes to the Indians,
whether it be gambling or any other
issue."
The governor refused to elaborate on
his comment.
McCain, Gore and Bill Bradley,
Gore's rival for the Democratic
presidential nomination, did not respond
to several requests for comment. Most
Indian leaders cite demographics,
economics and historical disenchantment with the political process as major
reasons why politicians make so few
overtures to their people.
Indians make up 1 percent of the
PRESIDENTIAL to pg. 8